Problem with Monarch

After one ride I have a problem with my Monarch. When I turn it to min it is more soft than the mid and of course more soft as it was before...
Max is soft, mid is stiffer and min in the softest of all!
What to do?

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"Ralph Waldo Emerson

yeah of course, mine seems to make no difference. any ideas what could cause that? have literally been on one short ride not really looked into it, but would expect to feel some difference bouncing on it right?

"Min" is the softest setting, the middle setting is medium, and "max" is the most low speed compression or firmest.

So we set the sag on min and pedal on max?
I thought it was the other way. And I think I pedaled on min on my first ride and it was firmer than the mid that I used on the trail... Don't know... Maybe I've lost it...
Couldn't find any manuals or videos to make sure.

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you technically inclined? If so, you may want to try and tackle this yourself. Alternatively, send it in to be rebuilt. I think the Monarch is a brilliant shock - far superior in performance to Fox stuff but, like Fox stuff, suffers from poor assembly at the factory (I've had to rebuild all of mine from new and I've had a few).

Basically, it sounds like the platform level is incorrectly installed and therefore not 'clocked' correctly. It could be a simple fix but you'll need and IFP adapter from RS ($10) as you'll likely need to depressurize the IFP and then need a means to repressurize it. If this all sounds too much / scary - send it in. If not - let me know and I can tell you want to do.

i expect some break in but platform should work out of box surely?
will check tomorrow.
hopefully on-one will warranty this too if it turns out i got a dud shock.. :/
don't mind doing servicing, but don't want to mess with a new shock and potentially make worse/not fix/invalidate warranty etc

Put the one off of my v3 on my v1 frame and went for a ride. After half the ride I was loosing air. Found I was down 20psi once home. Put shock into water and looked for bubbles. Couldn't find any. Even let it sit over night and didn't see any in the morning. Going to put it back up to 170psi and try again.

Could feal it bottom a couple times during the ride and thought something was up. bottomed so hard that my chain stay hit my derailer cage and shifted it off-line. I thought maybe i had the sag set to low and bottomed it so hard that it some how lost air. Not sure if that is possible but it's the only thing I could think of or make up.

i expect some break in but platform should work out of box surely?
will check tomorrow.
hopefully on-one will warranty this too if it turns out i got a dud shock.. :/
don't mind doing servicing, but don't want to mess with a new shock and potentially make worse/not fix/invalidate warranty etc

if the problem is that you can't discern the difference (rather the problem that the OP has), it might not be defective. the differences in the floodgate settings are not that pronounced, it is pretty subtle, at least for the RT3 shocks I've used (stock RT3 on carbon X, push'd RT3 on carbon X and push'd RT3 on EG). No, I haven't used the stock RT3 on the EG, but I don't expect it to be much different. With every shock, it was pretty hard to tell the difference in the settings, but it is there - the shock will move slightly less with the same force on the high setting (repeatedly pushing the seat down with the same force, and switching the gate setting repeatedly). I can also notice it when riding the EG that the lower settings will squat more when climbing (when I have my weight shifting right back), and the high setting pretty much eliminates the squat.

if the problem is that you can't discern the difference (rather the problem that the OP has), it might not be defective. the differences in the floodgate settings are not that pronounced, it is pretty subtle, at least for the RT3 shocks I've used (stock RT3 on carbon X, push'd RT3 on carbon X and push'd RT3 on EG). No, I haven't used the stock RT3 on the EG, but I don't expect it to be much different. With every shock, it was pretty hard to tell the difference in the settings, but it is there - the shock will move slightly less with the same force on the high setting (repeatedly pushing the seat down with the same force, and switching the gate setting repeatedly). I can also notice it when riding the EG that the lower settings will squat more when climbing (when I have my weight shifting right back), and the high setting pretty much eliminates the squat.

The difference is very noticeable if you know what your looking for. A LOT of people ride the bike around the car park bouncing it up and down with different pro pedal / lever settings and say "it feels the same". The reason is that in bouncing up and down like that they're blowing off the platform circuit and opening the shock right up and hence it feels virtually identical in each setting.

I too have had 3 RT3's and ALL feel very different in each of the 3 settings when tested properly (and when working correctly). The way to test is to sit on the saddle with your feet on the ground and to bounce up and down SLOWLY. This mimics the slow up-down motion of pedaling which is all it's designed to filter out). This stops the platform from blowing off. When doing this - the difference is very pronounced. If it's not then either the platform tune is too light for the leverage ratio of that bike or it's not working (which is often the case from factory sadly).

Are you technically inclined? If so, you may want to try and tackle this yourself. Alternatively, send it in to be rebuilt. I think the Monarch is a brilliant shock - far superior in performance to Fox stuff but, like Fox stuff, suffers from poor assembly at the factory (I've had to rebuild all of mine from new and I've had a few).

Basically, it sounds like the platform level is incorrectly installed and therefore not 'clocked' correctly. It could be a simple fix but you'll need and IFP adapter from RS ($10) as you'll likely need to depressurize the IFP and then need a means to repressurize it. If this all sounds too much / scary - send it in. If not - let me know and I can tell you want to do.

Thanks for the tip, but is the floodgate lever incorrectly installed? As Craig says it is the normal operation...

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had the factory treatment done on mine by PUSH, I asked them to firm up the "MAX" setting as much as they could so I almost have a lockout for racing yet keep the "MIN" setting as minimal as possible as one does affect the other (ie. if they firm up the max it also firms up the min to some extent). So my shock is blatantly obvious as to what setting is what. I'm not sure the 3.3 is the same shock as the RT3, I doubt it. I also wouldnt put it past Rock Shox to have a misprint in their manual, FOX had the directions backwards on the RP3 a few years back.

I had the factory treatment done on mine by PUSH,I asked them to firm up the "MAX" setting as much as they could so I almost have a lockout for racing yet keep the "MIN" setting as minimal as possible as one does affect the other (ie. if they firm up the max it also firms up the min to some extent). So my shock is blatantly obvious as to what setting is what.

Really??? I didn't know you could do that! Interesting. Where's Push? A link please. How much did it cost you?

Originally Posted by craigstr

I'm not sure the 3.3 is the same shock as the RT3, I doubt it. I also wouldnt put it past Rock Shox to have a misprint in their manual, FOX had the directions backwards on the RP3 a few years back.

I'm not sure either but I think I read somewhere that RT3 is the old 3.3 so I thought it's pretty much the same...

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"Ralph Waldo Emerson

Terrible, sounds like you have my RT3 issue. After about a full year and two send backs I finally got a new shock from Titus. The sent my original to SRAM and they "serviced" it to no avail. Would lose 10-20 psi every 15-20 min on the bike. New shock is working properly and holds air. I too found no bubbles and it would hold pressure just fine overnight. Only seemed to lose it when cycling.

Terrible, sounds like you have my RT3 issue. After about a full year and two send backs I finally got a new shock from Titus. The sent my original to SRAM and they "serviced" it to no avail. Would lose 10-20 psi every 15-20 min on the bike. New shock is working properly and holds air. I too found no bubbles and it would hold pressure just fine overnight. Only seemed to lose it when cycling.

Sounds like the issue I have exactly. Maybe I'll talk to fox about a new rp23 for it.